Tom Anderson¹ died at 6: Dav. [Dr David Graham] was there all night

Delightful + clear sunny atmosphere + constant sunshine but not too hot. I wished I could have got away to somehill top. Was knocked up during the night about Bella Henderson + got a message at 7.15 for Lizzie Brown (Inglis)². Saw her, Bella Henderson + boy Keddie after [?] breakfast. In forenoon cycled to Ettrick Mill + John Piercy³ + then up to Newarkburn (Barrie) where the delicate twin , John⁴, has whooping cough + bronchitis. Saw Lizzie Brown several times but nothing came off. Dav [Dr David Graham] has a confinement at Goslaw Green (Mrs Anderson, an Oliver⁵) then also went to Dryden + late to Ettrickbridgend.

¹ Thomas Scott ‘Tom’ Anderson (1852-1919), M.D., landed proprietor, master of foxhounds and ocasional author, previously a sheep farmer (he never practised medicine), since 1891 of Ettrickshaws, Kirkhope

² Elizabeth Scott ‘Lizzie’ Brown née Ingles, see diary entry for 18 June 1919

³ John Piercy, born 1912, Dunsdalehaugh, Selkirk, son of Isaac Piercy, woollen pattern weaver, and Margaret Piercy née Brown who had married in 1910 at Selkirk

⁴ John McMillan Barrie and William Wilson Barrie were twins born 7 June 1914 at Fauldshope, sons of Alexander Barrie, shepherd, and Jessie Barrie née McMillan, married 7 June 1912 at Carnwath

⁵ Margaret Hyslop Anderson, born 17 June 1919 at 8 Goslaw Green, Selkirk, daughter of James Anderson, woollen pattern warper, and Mary Hyslop Anderson née Oliver, married 2 February 1917 at Selkirk

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

Dull windy day + decidedly colder. Some drizzling rain towards evening. David [Graham, co-partner] got a message at 8 to see Tom Anderson + made 3 visits. At night he ‘phoned that he was sinking + that he would remain. Cycled in the town + to Bridgelands. Was chiefly occupied in the afternoon adding up the cash book + find that in total receipts for 1918-19 amount to £1934 18 11 + there is a great discrepancy between the figures + the bank book. Bella [Paulin] in bed.

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

Very much colder + a strong S.W. gale with any amount of dust flying. Glass falling but no rain. David wanted a day’s rest so I cycled [to] Ettrickshaws. Met Bob Mitchell on the way + he asked me to call for his wife which I did + came home by Thirladean for P Bartlemans [?]. Got home for tea at 2 + saw Mrs Jenkins [?] + Mrs Lawton. Went to evening service with Helen [?] + supped at Wellwood. Barb [?], Jack + Mrs Birch then called for Bella Henderson, Forest Road after leaving. [Illegible] a terrible difference in Tom Anderson¹. He is thinner + paler + absolutely helpless.

¹ Thomas Scott ‘Tom’ Anderson (1852-1919), M.D., landed proprietor, previously a sheep farmer (he never practised medicine), since 1891 of Ettrickshaws, Kirkhope

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

It was such a perfect day that the disappointment over yesterday morning’s ride was all the greater. It would have been impossible to improve on today. No dust, constant sunshine, no wind + yet moderate heat. I cycled to Jenkins¹, Philiphaugh Manse, Bridgelands (Charlotte) + Yair. The Wellwooders went for a picnic at Henderland. Helen went in the Swift + took Vera Brown. I had a quiet afternoon + shot 3 sparrows. Dined at Elmbank [?] most [illegible] + David + Norah [Graham] there. The lower pane of the bathroom window was smashed by the blind getting outside + 2 panes of the harness room window was broken by the Boy Scouts.

¹ The Reverend John Jenkins was at Philiphaugh Congregational Manse, Russell Place, Selkirk, 1919 Valuation Roll

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

Victory Common Riding 100 riders went round in heavy rain + came back drenched¹. I went over to the Hall at 6.45 + saw Nancy Buss the Colours². Jack³ introduced me to Munro the M.P. + I walked down with him in the procession⁴. Stood on the footbridge + saw the gallop to Linglie, brought him back + showed him the library &c. + then he came here till breakfast which we didn’t get till 11.20 as Jack, Nancy, Mr [John] + Jas Pollok⁵ (who was the Standard Bearer) had to go home + change. I sent the Polloks down in the motor. The breakfast was a great success. Charlie Herdman⁶ unexpectedly turned up + made 19 with 4 from Wellwood, D + N, 4 from Elmpark, 2 Polloks, Dundas, Charlie Roberts, Muir [?] + Jorroks⁷. The rain stopped + after 1 the sun was shining + most of them went out to the races. I was left all alone with nothing to do. Called for Mrs Lawson + Isa Henderson + at 5 cycled down to see Isaac Piercy⁸ + called at Wellwood. Dav. [Dr David Graham, co-partner] was at the races for a little + then went up to Ettrick Shaws [Tom Anderson]. Mousey [Helen Muir] had everything well arranged except having the bath room window open which allowed the blind to drift + smash the glass of the under sash.

¹ Selkirk Common Riding was as wet as June 100 years later it seems

² Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir (1878-1948), Dr Muir’s second daughter and married to Jack, the Provost; the Provost’s wife traditionally bussed the colours but the Southern Reporter 19 June 1919 noted that she had “… the distinction of being the first Provost’s wife to ride the Marches.”

³ John Roberts junior ‘Jack’ (1876-1966), mill owner and Provost of Selkirk

⁴ Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness (1868-1955), Scottish lawyer, judge and Liberal politician, served as Secretary for Scotland 1916-1922 and as M.P. for Roxburgh and Selkirk 1918-1922

⁵ James MacLaurin Pollok (1890-1975), ex-soldier and son of John Pollok; the Southern Reporter 19 June 1919 noted that he “… won golden opinions by the way in which he discharged the office of Standard Bearer.”

⁶ Assume Charles William Herdman (1880-1956), at this time at Friarshaugh, Melrose but who later lived in Gloucestershire

⁷ Guests are four of the ‘Wellwooders’, Dr Muir’s daughter, son-in-law and children living at Wellwood, Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk; D and N are Dr David Graham and his wife Norah; the residents of Elmpark; John Pollok, Procurator-Fiscal and his son James; Dundas may be William Claxton Dundas, solicitor, of Edenhill, Selkirk; Charlie Roberts; Muir [?] and Jorrocks [unidentified]

⁸ Isaac Piercy, Market Place, aged 23 (1911) or Isaac D Piercy, aged 2 (1911) at Dunsdalehaugh

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

There was thunder + heavy rain during the night. The day was fine but intensely sultry with a strong E breeze. About 4 it got very dark + there was thunder with heavy showers first of hail + then of rain. After that it was a beautiful evening, the very thing for “the nicht afore the morn”¹. My foot was practically well + I cycled in the town + to Yair but at the Bridge, May Cook told me that Dubs² was out in the motor so I turned round + came back via Rink. Did some writing &c in the afternoon. Crowds in the street at night. There were no more than 4 Bussin [?] events³. Mousey very busy with preparation of tomorrow’s breakfast⁴. Letter from Dora⁵ in which she says that if everything else fails she may go out to [illegible] in India.

¹ At Selkirk Common Riding the festival begins on the Thursday, ‘the nicht afore the morn’, with the Crying of the Burley, when the Senior Burgh Officer proclaims the principals to Ride the Marches “There will be all these, and a great many more, and all be ready to start at the sound of the Second Drum” early on the next morning

² Frank Albert Dubs (1860-1920), engineer and locomotive builder, later of ‘private means’, with nine servants [source: 1911 census], born Anderston, Glasgow but resident at Yair during the First World War

³ Here are the Bussin’ or Bussing events from the Thursday prior to the Bussing itself early on the Friday

⁴ Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter

⁵ Andrina Dorothy ‘Dora’ Muir (1882-1978), Dr Muir’s youngest daughter

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

Stayed in bed all day as my toe was still very painful. D. [Dr David Graham] came up + I gave it another good coating of iodine. By evening it was decidedly better. I was delighted by a call from Harry Peddie¹ who was out seeing Tom Anderson². Nancy + Mrs Birch also called. There was a message to see Robert Beattie who has now gone to live at Broadmeadows Cottage. David had a confinement last night, a Mrs Hardie [sic], Ettrick Road³.

¹ Henry Anderson ‘Harry’ Peddie (c.1859-), M.B., CM.

² Thomas Scott ‘Tom’ Anderson (1852-1919), M.D., landed proprietor, of Ettrick Shaws, Kirkhope, which he had built in 1891 on 30 acres purchased from the Duke of Buccleuch [Source: Historic Environment Scotland LB49226]; Anderson was also father-in-law of William Henry ‘Will’ or ‘W H’ Ogilvie (1869-1963), poet and journalist

³ Robert Fletcher Hardy, born 10 June 1919 at Ettrick Road, Selkirk, son of John Hardy, woollen mill foreman, and Annie Hardy née Rodger, married 14 June 1918, Selkirk

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

When I rose this morning I couldn’t put my left foot to the ground without excruciating pain + the toe was very swollen + red, so I had to keep to the smoke room sofa all day. David [Graham, co-partner] advised me to paint the toe with iodine which I did. Saw Mrs Mitchell from Whitehope in the Smoke room + one or two others at night. Entered David’s visits for last week [into accounts]. Finished ‘Mr Standfast’ + began ‘Greenmantle’ both by John Buchan + lent by Mrs Mackintosh¹.

¹Greenmantle, 1916 and Mr Standfast, 1919, both published by Hodder & Stoughton, are Buchan’s two Richard Hannay novels set during the First World War itself while his The Thirty-Nine Steps was set prior to the outbreak of war and was one of a large number of Invasion Novels which reflected the growing tension in the decades leading to August 1914. The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, 1903 and When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns, 1913 by H H Munro ‘Saki’ are perhaps the others most worthy of attention. All address the sense of threat and looming crisis which had slowly grown since the Franco-Prussian War and culminated in the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. The genre is a very extensive one (so the authors can hardly claim unique prescience) and includes The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer, 1871 by George Tomkyns Chesney and H G Wells’s The War of the Worlds, 1898 and The War in the Air, 1907. Buchan’s and Childers’s novels are notably similar in their movement from drift and oppressive ennui to release through action, in each involving middle class men of a ‘type’, though both sidestep the jingoistic calls to arms and action (particularly of some poets of the time) which are almost unbearable in retrospect

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

Left at 9.30 + motored to Edinburgh via Gala. Took exactly 1 hour to the G.P.O. Called at Lourie’s + got a little opera glass + a compass: at Forsyth’s + got a collar + a soft hat. Went to the store to get a stand up soft collar but they had none. They are evidently quite out of fashion. Called at H & I [Hamilton & Inches, jeweller] + paid for the motor clock I gave D. [David Graham, co-partner]. Met Molly Bullough at [illegible] at 12.30 + went to Glenlee for lunch. Baptie following. Then Molly, Miss Forsyth + I had a run to Fort Street¹ (where I saw the old home) through Leith to Portobello and Duddingston. Came home via Peebles in 2 h 10 m. Developed an inflamed left little toe. Thought the pain was in the corn but it wasn’t. Hope it isn’t gangrene.

¹ Newhaven to Ferry Road area; the family lived at 15 North Fort Street while Muir’s father the Reverend Francis Muir was Minister of St Thomas Junction Road Parish Church, Great Junction Street, Leith

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]

Brilliant morning: + a fine day with strong S.W. wind + dust galore. Walked to Forest Road, Curror Street, Raeburn Meadow. Went to forenoon service. Pollok called about raising Mellalieu’s salary¹. Went to a very short meeting to appoint 2 Presbytery elders. As in the house all afternoon. Wrote Jean [Muir] giving the information I had from Dr [illegible] + enclosing Mrs Gallop’s letter. Wrote McDonald at Crecy House². Went to evening service. Jack, Nancy, Dav., Norah + Major McDonald came to supper. Drizzly shower at night. Baptie came back from his holiday.

¹ William Norman Mellalieu (1887-1952), music teacher and organist, mentioned several times previously in Dr Muir’s diary; Pollock is John Pollok (1858-1938), Town Clerk and Procurator Fiscal, Selkirk

² Crecy House, Isle of Whithorn; on 7 April 1919 Dr Muir had written to his friend James C R Macdonald, writer to the signet, of 1 Newall Terrace, Dumfries, saying that he would be unable to join him and his wife Kate (Katherine) at Whithorn at the end of May

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]